This is the clearest explanation I've read on the situation w Iran. Also the most frightening. Let's hope someone can talk Trump down from engaging with Israel on bombing Iran.
He's likely not jumped in yet *precisely* because of Iran's capacity to close the Straits of Hormuz to oil & LNG tankers. Yep, according to eia.gov, 20% of global oil/gas still passes through that vital shipping chokepoint https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65504 Which Iran can very easily do with just a few anti-ship SSM batteries.
Take 20% of global oil/gas off the board, and US inflation will spike. Especially for gasoline, heating, oil, propane, etc. Then we'll have a Trumpcession for real. With the 2026 primaries just around the corner, and the GOP already in a bad space.
THAT's why Trump hasn't fully jumped into Bibi's latest war just yet, despite AIPAC entreaties to the contrary.
Trump bombed Iran today...the nuclear power plants..I'd love to know the construct of this " negoyiation" with Bibi...2 peas in a pod...God Help Us All.
I think what's especially frustrating about this all is that Trump seems determined to heed Israel, a state already possessing oversized influence on American politics, over his own country's intelligence. This is WMDs all over again. Different nation, same pretext.
Israel went ahead with the war when the US said no we want diplomacy, clearly worried that the US might accomplish that. Netanyahu clearly sees his political career as best served by keeping Israel in forever wars. It seems a losing strategy. Muslims are 2 billion and growing, Jews are 15.3 million and declining. Does not seem like a winning formula to kill off so many of your youth in battle.
Yes, Linda, the new formula is called American soldiers, American bombs, American lives. Trump wants that waterfront property (formerly Gaza), and he will make any deal to get it. He does not care about the culture, the lives, the politics. He just cares about himself and his tiny little shriveled pecker, that's the mark of this man. I'm sorry.
In my lifetime, I have lost track of how many local Middle East crisis’ have threatened the flow of precious oil. I have lost track of how many peace accords or diplomatic missions or limited joint military operations or endless wars and quagmires the US has been involved in either with approval or no approval of Congress. And I have lost track of how many neighbors Israel has been in an existential crisis with since I was born in 1967. I have watched and listened to eight former presidents posture and make foreign policy in this region, some with limited success toward maintenance of an agreed upon simmering ‘peace’ but toward what final goal? And now this one, a transactional, mentally ill, amoral son of a bitch is ready to take us into a final confrontation, but maybe not, maybe, maybe not, maybe. King Trump is like the sump pump in my basement, on again, off again, on again, off again. At least the sump pump does its job.
The US in the 1950s overthrew the democratically elected government in Iran and look how well that turned out. These idiots never learn in the US and just keep repeating bad decisions. 🤦🏽♀️
There is a great montage of American failures as described above by A Sarcastic Prophet in the Michael Moore film, "Bowling for Columbine." It is a flash history lesson to bring the audience up to speed on the work of Lockheed Martin, a major player in the military industrial complex and a company town in Littleton, Colorado, home of Columbine High School. All this violence begets violence and it explodes into our lives through the 400 million guns in America.
In my opinion, nothing would make Trump feel more like the tough guy he wants to be but isn’t, than killing millions. In his world if they are Muslim then it would be justified.
He would never go through the moral crisis Truman did before making his decision to use the bombs on Japan.
I have a few thoughts about this situation. One is that North Korea has been doing the same kind of thing on its own, and sharing with allies and anyone who wants to pay them. Iran could make the nuclear material and use North Korea for help with the next steps, regardless of any bombing effects. Next thought was, well, doesn't Iran have a history of using assassins to kill its perceived enemies? So I think Trump might be a target. (I'm not going to lose any sleep on this though.) And lastly, the history of attempted regime change is full of failures. Generally, you can't just kill off the leadership, you also need to have new leaders who support peaceful government and democracy in order to have a satisfactory effect. A bombed out country isn't conducive to any of that, and if, as is likely, Trump and others try to do it on the cheap, results will be unstable, as we see in Iraq. We just don't have the resources to stand up a newly reformed Iran. The only benefit to the U.S. will be to the military-industrial complex as it rebuilds Israel's supply of war materiel at taxpayer expense. (Both the U.S. and Israeli taxpayers.)
Right on Therese, this is a thoughtful look at global relationships and very real consequences of war. This is exactly the opposite of how Trump et al brains work.
Trump is already pissed off. His birthday parade was a bust. 10M people took to the streets to tell him to go fuck himself. The leaders of the G7 laughed at him. Like any angry toddler, he will lash out and Iran is a likely target. And because he is surrounded by sycophants and doesn't consume any news not on Fox, he thinks war with Iran will restore his popularity. It won't. In fact it may make life so uncomfortable for Republicans in Congress that they finally act to remove him.
Hahahaha ha ha did you really say that Congress will..."act" as in do something important with their power instead of fighting each other for the camera???
Where is Congress and, overall, the Democrats? Yes, some Democrats are speaking out—Chris Murphy, Bernie, a few others have been great but they all need to be out publicly every day, chronicling how much of Project 2025 has already been put in place, how much a war would cost in casualties and funds, why Trump is doing all this, the authoritarian playbook etc. BTW—Laurence O’Donnell was fantastic on MSNBC last night talking about Trump’s slide into dementia. See it if you can. We all need to be talking about all of this.
Damn right! The Dems should be doing everything they can to shut everything down. McConnell showed how to grind Congress to a halt and it worked for him.
Every day. To anybody who will listen. I told a woman working behind the counter I was going to an Elizabeth Warren town hall and she looked at me like a long lost friend. She has an extension activist background but those around her now were less educated and more likely to be getting their news from Twitter. She hadn't had a big convo with an ardent resister for a long time. So SPEAK UP. People need to know we are everywhere.
“In 2018, Donald Trump pulled out of that agreement despite the entreaties of all major allies — with the exception of Israel — and the advice of the military intelligence leaders in the United States, who argued that the deal was working and there was no reason to pull out. So that brings us to the present moment. Netanyahu — who was an opponent of the deal, who was one of the people who convinced Trump to pull out — and President Trump are now trying to fix a problem they created.” <— In other words, it was Forrest Trump who stupid did as stupid is.
The problem with Iran at this point is a problem entirely of Trump's making. If he had not needed to prove how tough he was by getting rid of anything the Obama administration had done (most of which he couldn't actually eliminate), there wouldn't be a problem with Iran at this point (at least not to this extent). This is all Trump's fault!
I was in college during the Vietnam War, and can't believe it's happening again--that we'll have to protest this on top of everything else. The thing is, the Mad King is impatient. He thinks he'll conquer Iran overnight, but when this drags on into a years-long conflict, he'll quickly lose interest, leaving us and our descendants holding the bag. If there's a bag left to hold.
Kate and Linda are spot on … clear , concise, and so informative. Thanks Judd!
The news media is not doing their job again! So much push all backing Israel.
We have a U S Senator on the Arms Committee that can’t tell what’s the population of Iran 92.4 million to 11.4 million in Israel. I seen only one CNN Gabby point out that NutWho has been crying about Iran’s nuclear bomb close to being developed since the late 90’s. Even Scott Galloway has bought into this narrative.
This is the clearest explanation I've read on the situation w Iran. Also the most frightening. Let's hope someone can talk Trump down from engaging with Israel on bombing Iran.
He's likely not jumped in yet *precisely* because of Iran's capacity to close the Straits of Hormuz to oil & LNG tankers. Yep, according to eia.gov, 20% of global oil/gas still passes through that vital shipping chokepoint https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65504 Which Iran can very easily do with just a few anti-ship SSM batteries.
Take 20% of global oil/gas off the board, and US inflation will spike. Especially for gasoline, heating, oil, propane, etc. Then we'll have a Trumpcession for real. With the 2026 primaries just around the corner, and the GOP already in a bad space.
THAT's why Trump hasn't fully jumped into Bibi's latest war just yet, despite AIPAC entreaties to the contrary.
Trump bombed Iran today...the nuclear power plants..I'd love to know the construct of this " negoyiation" with Bibi...2 peas in a pod...God Help Us All.
Trump is incapable and quite possibly insane. The fact that Congress doesn't have the balls to disagree with him or restrain him is deeply concerning.
Congress? What Congress? Haven't they all checked out? Gone home? Playing checkers with Mike Johnson?
Checked out. Sold out.
I think what's especially frustrating about this all is that Trump seems determined to heed Israel, a state already possessing oversized influence on American politics, over his own country's intelligence. This is WMDs all over again. Different nation, same pretext.
Israel went ahead with the war when the US said no we want diplomacy, clearly worried that the US might accomplish that. Netanyahu clearly sees his political career as best served by keeping Israel in forever wars. It seems a losing strategy. Muslims are 2 billion and growing, Jews are 15.3 million and declining. Does not seem like a winning formula to kill off so many of your youth in battle.
Yes, Linda, the new formula is called American soldiers, American bombs, American lives. Trump wants that waterfront property (formerly Gaza), and he will make any deal to get it. He does not care about the culture, the lives, the politics. He just cares about himself and his tiny little shriveled pecker, that's the mark of this man. I'm sorry.
In my lifetime, I have lost track of how many local Middle East crisis’ have threatened the flow of precious oil. I have lost track of how many peace accords or diplomatic missions or limited joint military operations or endless wars and quagmires the US has been involved in either with approval or no approval of Congress. And I have lost track of how many neighbors Israel has been in an existential crisis with since I was born in 1967. I have watched and listened to eight former presidents posture and make foreign policy in this region, some with limited success toward maintenance of an agreed upon simmering ‘peace’ but toward what final goal? And now this one, a transactional, mentally ill, amoral son of a bitch is ready to take us into a final confrontation, but maybe not, maybe, maybe not, maybe. King Trump is like the sump pump in my basement, on again, off again, on again, off again. At least the sump pump does its job.
The simple solution is wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. Good for the environment as well. But logic has never been our strong suit. /s
Not when the machine continues to profit. The future of humanity has no value against the promise of obscene wealth.
The US in the 1950s overthrew the democratically elected government in Iran and look how well that turned out. These idiots never learn in the US and just keep repeating bad decisions. 🤦🏽♀️
Most (including me) are not old enough to remember and we don't tend to teach American failures in history class so it remains a well kept secret.
There is a great montage of American failures as described above by A Sarcastic Prophet in the Michael Moore film, "Bowling for Columbine." It is a flash history lesson to bring the audience up to speed on the work of Lockheed Martin, a major player in the military industrial complex and a company town in Littleton, Colorado, home of Columbine High School. All this violence begets violence and it explodes into our lives through the 400 million guns in America.
In my opinion, nothing would make Trump feel more like the tough guy he wants to be but isn’t, than killing millions. In his world if they are Muslim then it would be justified.
He would never go through the moral crisis Truman did before making his decision to use the bombs on Japan.
I have a few thoughts about this situation. One is that North Korea has been doing the same kind of thing on its own, and sharing with allies and anyone who wants to pay them. Iran could make the nuclear material and use North Korea for help with the next steps, regardless of any bombing effects. Next thought was, well, doesn't Iran have a history of using assassins to kill its perceived enemies? So I think Trump might be a target. (I'm not going to lose any sleep on this though.) And lastly, the history of attempted regime change is full of failures. Generally, you can't just kill off the leadership, you also need to have new leaders who support peaceful government and democracy in order to have a satisfactory effect. A bombed out country isn't conducive to any of that, and if, as is likely, Trump and others try to do it on the cheap, results will be unstable, as we see in Iraq. We just don't have the resources to stand up a newly reformed Iran. The only benefit to the U.S. will be to the military-industrial complex as it rebuilds Israel's supply of war materiel at taxpayer expense. (Both the U.S. and Israeli taxpayers.)
Right on Therese, this is a thoughtful look at global relationships and very real consequences of war. This is exactly the opposite of how Trump et al brains work.
No good can come from this, God help us ‼️
Trump is already pissed off. His birthday parade was a bust. 10M people took to the streets to tell him to go fuck himself. The leaders of the G7 laughed at him. Like any angry toddler, he will lash out and Iran is a likely target. And because he is surrounded by sycophants and doesn't consume any news not on Fox, he thinks war with Iran will restore his popularity. It won't. In fact it may make life so uncomfortable for Republicans in Congress that they finally act to remove him.
Hahahaha ha ha did you really say that Congress will..."act" as in do something important with their power instead of fighting each other for the camera???
Thanks for the good laugh.
Excellent interview. Clear and concise. This is a must share to all who are struggling to understand what this is about.
Where is Congress and, overall, the Democrats? Yes, some Democrats are speaking out—Chris Murphy, Bernie, a few others have been great but they all need to be out publicly every day, chronicling how much of Project 2025 has already been put in place, how much a war would cost in casualties and funds, why Trump is doing all this, the authoritarian playbook etc. BTW—Laurence O’Donnell was fantastic on MSNBC last night talking about Trump’s slide into dementia. See it if you can. We all need to be talking about all of this.
Damn right! The Dems should be doing everything they can to shut everything down. McConnell showed how to grind Congress to a halt and it worked for him.
Every day. To anybody who will listen. I told a woman working behind the counter I was going to an Elizabeth Warren town hall and she looked at me like a long lost friend. She has an extension activist background but those around her now were less educated and more likely to be getting their news from Twitter. She hadn't had a big convo with an ardent resister for a long time. So SPEAK UP. People need to know we are everywhere.
“In 2018, Donald Trump pulled out of that agreement despite the entreaties of all major allies — with the exception of Israel — and the advice of the military intelligence leaders in the United States, who argued that the deal was working and there was no reason to pull out. So that brings us to the present moment. Netanyahu — who was an opponent of the deal, who was one of the people who convinced Trump to pull out — and President Trump are now trying to fix a problem they created.” <— In other words, it was Forrest Trump who stupid did as stupid is.
The problem with Iran at this point is a problem entirely of Trump's making. If he had not needed to prove how tough he was by getting rid of anything the Obama administration had done (most of which he couldn't actually eliminate), there wouldn't be a problem with Iran at this point (at least not to this extent). This is all Trump's fault!
Stupid is as stupid does. Forrest Trump
I was in college during the Vietnam War, and can't believe it's happening again--that we'll have to protest this on top of everything else. The thing is, the Mad King is impatient. He thinks he'll conquer Iran overnight, but when this drags on into a years-long conflict, he'll quickly lose interest, leaving us and our descendants holding the bag. If there's a bag left to hold.
Or hands to hold it.
Trump and this regime is always working on trying to solve crisis they themselves have created. That’s their MOD
Trump is going to do “whatever it is, to get the most likes”.
Kate and Linda are spot on … clear , concise, and so informative. Thanks Judd!
The news media is not doing their job again! So much push all backing Israel.
We have a U S Senator on the Arms Committee that can’t tell what’s the population of Iran 92.4 million to 11.4 million in Israel. I seen only one CNN Gabby point out that NutWho has been crying about Iran’s nuclear bomb close to being developed since the late 90’s. Even Scott Galloway has bought into this narrative.
We are living through challenging times.